Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
Consumption increased significantly - BSE impact
Japan's pork imports rose 18 percent in the first quarter of this year from the same period last year, falling just short of 2002 levels. There was an increase in both fresh and frozen goods. The growth in Japanese imports is a consequence of global BSE cases; as a result, pork demand in the East Asian country increased sharply, while beef became scarce and expensive.
This seems to reverse the development of 2003: Last year, demand from the world's largest pork importer weakened significantly, and imports fell by three percent. The reason for this was the growing inventory, which was mainly used for processing. Domestic pig production also grew slowly last year, which also led to a drop in import demand.
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
For Anuga FoodTec, the international trade fair for food technology, the signs point to growth. Together with its partner, the Deutsche Landwirtschafts-Gesellschaft (DLG), KoelnMesse is planning to further expand the position of Anuga FoodTec as the leading international platform for investments in the food industry. A long-term contractual agreement was signed for this.
"We are very happy to continue the successful cooperation in this reliable form," says Dr. Reinhard Grandke, the new general manager of the DLG. “The food industry has found its investment platform in Anuga FoodTec. With this contract, we are concentrating all our strengths together with KoelnMesse and can thus offer companies the necessary prospects for successfully developing their sales markets.” Because the importance of technologies and innovations is being increased by globalization, markets and companies becoming more international, and growing quality and safety requirements increase in food.
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
The well-known legume can also be harmful to health
Soy is in - whether as a soy drink, soy sausages or as a tried and tested soy sauce, the legume, which is a staple food in Asia, is also being eaten more and more frequently in this country. The reason: Soy is considered healthy. Cancer prevention is an attribute that is often attested to soy. In addition, the substance, which is often used as a meat substitute, is said to alleviate the symptoms of menopause. But are there really only positive effects? Scientists at the University of Karlsruhe are investigating how soybeans work and have found that soybeans not only have a "healthy" side; it can also possibly be harmful to health and turn into the opposite: Certain intermediate products that are formed during metabolism are similar to known carcinogenic substances.
Japanese women are less likely to experience hot flashes and osteoporosis during menopause than their European peers. Scientists attribute this to the frequent consumption of foods containing soy. However, it is still largely unclear which ingredient in the soy plant is responsible for this positive effect. The only thing that is undisputed so far is that soy contains high concentrations of phytoestrogens. These plant ingredients have a similar effect to a female sex hormone, estradiol. However, it is still unclear whether phytoestrogens in particular have such a health-promoting effect. professor dr Manfred Metzler, Head of the Institute for Food Chemistry and Toxicology: "A completely different ingredient can also cause these positive effects".
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
The homepage of Fleischerei Ludwig from Schluechtern received an award from T-COM and Holzmann Verlag in Munich this weekend. At the WebWerk Handwerk 2003 competition, butcher Bernd Ludwig's website www.Fleischerei-Ludwig.de was awarded sixth prize. This included a weekend trip to the Bavarian capital and VIP tickets to visit the Bundesliga match FC Bayern Munich against SC Freiburg. The jury evaluated the following criteria for the award: Simple and functional design, successful appearance and creativity, easy maintenance of the pages, topicality and use for the company. The pages must not have been created by a professional. Master butcher Dirk Ludwig proudly declared: "We are pleased that we were awarded in this competition. Especially in view of the fact that we did all the programming ourselves after work, we are particularly amazed by this award."
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
A Gießen study and what the Technical University of Munich says about it
The regional marketing of food as a counter-model to globalization is on the rise, but not without controversy, as natur+kosmos reports in its June issue. A study by Elmar Schlich, Professor of Household Technology at the University of Giessen, has caused unrest among regional marketers. According to this, the production of fruit juices and lamb from the region, for example, consumes many times the energy that national products require. Lamb from New Zealand uses three times less energy than German lamb, even though it has to be transported 14000 kilometers. Herding, slaughtering and processing is done much more efficiently in New Zealand, and the The fuel consumption of huge container ships hardly plays a role in the life cycle assessment of a single kilogram of meat. Fruit juice from tropical countries uses eight times less energy than domestic juice. So maybe regional products aren’t more environmentally friendly after all?
A counter-study by the Technical University of Munich has examined Schlich's results and corrected some things: Schlich works with extreme values, for example the energy consumption of domestic apple juice manufacturers, which is eight times too high, only applies to technically outdated hobby cider factories that only process minimal quantities of apples. Average regional suppliers of apple juice produce with about the same amount of energy as the national large corporations. In addition, the greater advantages of regional marketing lie elsewhere: initiatives such as "Unsere Land" or "Tagwerk" protect biotopes and landscape forms, they preserve regional jobs, old cultivated plants and livestock species, and they revive old crafts and traditions. Last but not least, they also create trust through the direct contact between producer and consumer.
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
As reported by the Federal Statistical Office, the consumer price index in Germany is expected to increase by 2004% in May 2003 compared to May 2,1 (April 2004 compared to April 2003: + 1,6%) according to available results from six federal states. The significantly higher annual inflation rate in May 2004 is based on the prices for petroleum products, which have been rising for the past three months and which fell by more than 10% from March to May of the previous year.
A price increase of a similar magnitude was last measured in January 2002, also at +2,1%.
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
Three out of four farmers own a PC
Three out of four farmers own a PC, according to the results of the 2003 survey of income and consumption by the Federal Statistical Office. Farmers are thus above the national average of all private households of 61%, but below that of other self-employed households (86%).
The situation is similar when it comes to equipment with other information and communication technologies: 62% of farm households have Internet access; for households as a whole it is 46%; 73% among tradespeople and freelancers. As far as mobile phones are concerned, the level of ownership among farmers is 78%, 5 percentage points above the average for all households (73%), but 10 percentage points below that of tradespeople and freelancers (88%).
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
Specialist retailers with food loses significantly more
According to provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office, retail sales in Germany in April 2004 were down 1,7% in nominal terms and 1,8% in real terms compared with April 2003. Both months had 24 sales days each. The preliminary result was calculated from data from six federal states, which account for 81% of total German retail sales. After calendar and seasonal adjustment of the data, compared to March 2004, sales increased nominally by 1,0% and in real terms by 0,6%.
In the first four months of 2004 retail sales were nominally 1,5% and real 1,1% less than in the same period of the previous year.
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
food declining
According to provisional results from the Federal Statistical Office, in April 2004 wholesale sales in Germany increased nominally by 1,7% and in real terms by 0,9% compared to April 2003. Wholesale trade thus achieved a nominal and real increase in sales for the second month in a row this year. However, after calendar and seasonal adjustment of the data, 0,3% less than in March 0,5 was sold in nominal terms and 2004% in real terms.
In the first four months of 2004, wholesale sales were 2,4% higher in both nominal and real terms than in the first four months of 2003.
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
Increasing consumption of beef and pork - BSE without repercussions
The market could develop extremely positively in 2004 for American pig farmers. At the beginning of the year, US experts made much more unfavorable forecasts due to the sharp rise in feed prices and the foreseeable new production record. Although both of these forecasts appear to be correct, at the same time demand has increased surprisingly strongly. After the first case of BSE at the end of last year, exports on the US cattle market collapsed almost completely and prices plummeted. Nevertheless, the impact on the market was less than initially expected. American consumers bought beef at the same rate. For 2004, a new record level in consumption is even expected.
Last year, US farmers produced more than nine million tons of pork for the first time. Nevertheless, the US experts expect production to increase by a good one percent for the current year. Since 1997, US pork production has grown by more than 15 percent.
Submitted by Thomas Pröller, meat-n-more on , Published in Archive
Laying hens but still mostly in cages
Although cage farming continued to decline in German egg production last year, it is still by far the dominant form of husbandry. According to the December 2003 survey by the Federal Statistical Office in farms with more than 3.000 housing places, there were still 30,7 million laying hen housing places in cages in Germany, ten percent fewer than in the previous year; this corresponded to 80,8 percent of the total capacity. Twelve months earlier, 83,9 percent of all laying hens were still in cages.
On the reporting date, there were 3,7 million free-range places, which was six percent more than in December 2002. The share of the total capacity increased from 8,7 to 9,8 percent within a year. Barn housing has also continued to increase: at the end of 2003 it accounted for 3,6 million places, which corresponded to a share of 9,4 percent. In the previous year, it had only been 7,3 percent. However, the growth in free-range and barn housing was not able to compensate for the loss in cage housing.
